A/N: Thanks for all the favorites and follows!

I still don't own Aziraphale or Crowley.

Chapter 3

Initially, Crowley's string of juvenile pranks had rather reminded Aziraphale of a house cat knocking trinkets off shelves to garner attention. But soon, the angel realized what was going on. Crowley specifically wanted to gain Aziraphale's attention in a romantic (romantic for Crowley) way.

Aziraphale had suspected Crowley had been attracted to him since the Reign of Terror. Why else would he have bothered to save him from discorporation? And during the Blitz, those Nazis had tricked him into giving away prophecy books. Crowley not only saved his life, but also managed to save his books as well. To be honest, Crowley had been flirting with him for more than a century, but he had never been this overt about his lust.

Aziraphale didn't know what to say or do with Crowley. Without question, he was deeply in love with Crowley, and if he were honest with himself, he would admit that he physically yearned for him as well. But it wasn't as simple as falling into bed with the demon. Aziraphale needed more.

The "more" that Aziraphale needed did not include gratuitous amounts of sexual innuendo. The constant river of suggestiveness Crowley had been displaying lately was driving the angel to the brink of insanity. He didn't know how much more he could take, and he didn't know how to broach the subject.

It was a delicate situation. He wanted love but didn't want his friend to feel pressured into confessing his love for him. He wanted it to come from Crowley's heart. But if he asked him to stop flirting, he would feel rejected. And… Aziraphale already had an enormous amount of guilt over keeping Crowley at bay for over a hundred years. It broke his heart that he had resorted to cruelty and lies to keep up appearances with his heavenly supervisors. Yet time and again, Crowley would come back to him. Most of the time Crowley even took the blame for what Aziraphale had said or done.

Even though he was sure that Crowley was in love with him, he couldn't bring himself to give in to lust, not without hearing the words. And even though he knew his former bosses weren't watching, he still couldn't go against his heart. It wasn't about them. It was about love. It was deeply personal to Aziraphale, not just a rule the archangels had implemented to keep lowly principalities in line. There was simply no way for him to overcome the pain it would create for him to give himself to someone who hadn't declared his love for him.

The angel spent many waking hours telling himself that Heaven wasn't watching, that the universe owed him for helping avert the apocalypse, or even that Crowley did indeed love him. Countless hours he tried to conquer his inhibitions and allow himself to for once experience physical pleasure without worrying about consequences. He wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything, anything except love. When it came down to it, he needed love. And he needed Crowley to know it was love.

Aziraphale was still dithering when Crowley hatched his next plan. The angel knew there was another volley of tomfoolery on the way and had planned to weather this scheme in the same manner as before, until he could figure out a way to handle the situation.

Just after lunchtime, Crowley wandered into the bookshop and saw a married couple, man and woman. Actually, 'wandered' was the polite way of saying, 'drunkenly staggered.' But… that wasn't accurate either because Crowley clearly wasn't drunk. He was only pretending to be drunk. The two people in the store, other than Aziraphale, believed he was drunk, but Aziraphale knew better. He had been drunk with Crowley before and knew that when the demon drank, he was clumsier and unintelligible.

This day the demon did not exactly speak; he sang. And though he did slur his speech, he did not hiss, as he was inclined, and he didn't once tell a story that was impossible to follow. He simply belted out "Don't Stop Me Now" and made suggestive movements toward the two customers in the store.

"Tonight, I'm gonna have myself a real good time." He sang slowly as he approached the male customer. "I feel ali-i-i-ive!" The serpent thrust his hips toward the man with each syllable.

Aziraphale watched in shock, not at Crowley (he had rather expected such things from him at this point), but at the man who blushed and stared at Crowley's mouth, licking his lips. The bookseller had seen these two people in the shop before, and they had seemed happily married, and the man didn't seem remotely interested in other men. But… Crowley was an insanely attractive man. Some might even say he was hot. Clearly the man Crowley flirted with thought so.

"And the world…" The nimble snake sauntered sinuously around behind the man and toward his wife. "I'll turn it inside out. Yeah."

The woman, who had clearly noticed her husband's response to Crowley, didn't seem all that put out once the gorgeous demon turned his attention towards her. She flushed as she touched her throat and breathed through her open mouth.

"And floating around in ec-sta-cy," Crowley shamelessly danced very suggestively millimeters from the woman. "So, don't stop me…"

The woman didn't let him finish. She launched herself at him, latching her lips onto his like her life depended on it. Her hands encased Crowley's lithe form and went straight for his buttocks, squeezing it and grinding up against him.

Crowley had not anticipated this reaction from the lady. He had thought she would have the decency to at least pretend she had been offended. Most people, though they might be full of lechery, would not actually publically give in to their desires, especially in front of their significant other.

This miscalculation caused the demon to react more slowly than usual. Aziraphale giggled to himself as his counterpart flailed wildly to get away from unwanted affection, but still, he took mercy on his friend and snapped his finger, pausing the minds of both the man and woman. The husband and wife both straightened up and looked off blankly into space.

"That one didn't go your way." Aziraphale chuckled at him.

"Definitely not." The old serpent sighed in relief, glad to be away from the woman's exploring hands.

"But, then again, I did stop you after you specifically asked me not to…" The angel teased him, referring to the song the Crowley had been singing. He slowly raised his hand and held his fingers ready to snap and turn the couple's brains back on.

"You wouldn't." Crowley narrowed his eyes at the angel, daring him to play along.

Something strange happened in the angel's brain. He had a weird thought. What if Crowley wanted a relationship with someone, and Aziraphale was the closest one to him? Maybe if he gave the demon permission to move on, he would, and there would be no need for rejection, and though seeing Crowley with someone else would break his heart, he would rather suffer for his friend's happiness than cause Crowley pain. That thought gave the angel inspiration to meet the challenge Crowley had given him.

Aziraphale snapped his fingers.

Initially, the Crowley had been shocked that Aziraphale actually participated in his prank, but he got over it quickly to prepare himself for another round of tonsil hockey. Crowley expected the woman to resume her passionate pursuit, but she didn't.

Angels were perfectly capable of inflicting lust on someone just like demons could, but they didn't do it often. Aziraphale had decided to go the other way and target the man. Aziraphale projected both lust and competitiveness into the man, hoping that if lust wasn't enough, a masculine desire to win would push him over the edge. Since Aziraphale hadn't had occasion to use this ability often, he was very much out of practice. He might have overdone it just a bit.

The effect was instantaneous. The man grabbed Crowley by the face to give him a sloppy, wet kiss. This time the serpent was ready and snapped both man and woman back into an oblivious state.

Crowley wiped off his mouth, "Oh, my giddy aunt!" Crowley shuddered and his face twisted into a rather disgusted grimace. " 's like snogging a hairy frog!"

"Not your type, dear?" The angel asked, fighting hard and failing not to laugh at Crowley. He was also hoping to find out what he could do next to hold the serpent at bay.

"Blegh!" The demon stuck out his tongue as if to get rid of an unpleasant taste. "No, not interested in drool and mustaches." He rolled his eyes at the angel as he conjured up a bottle of whiskey. Drinking directly from the bottle he swished it around in his mouth and gargled. "How does his wife live with that?"

"Speaking of, will you please do something about them, dear?" Aziraphale motioned towards the two semi-conscious humans in his shop. "It's only fair that you clean up your own mess."

The demon got an impish grin on his face and raised his hand to snap. The idea wasn't yet fully formed in his mind when Aziraphale cleared his throat to interrupt the wicked thought before he could hatch it.

"I was considering taking you to your favorite Indian place again." Aziraphale scolded him. "Don't make me rethink that decision."

Crowley wisely changed his mind and wiped their memories of the whole thing. Blinking a few times, the both staggered out of the bookshop in a daze.